Super powers backing Boko Haram – Sheikh Gumi

Sheikh Ahmad Abuba­kar Mahmud Gumi is a reporter’s delight any day . Without pri­or appointment and long pro­tocols associated with public figures of his caliber in Ni­geria, Gumi, spoke for about 45minutes with The Sun Newspapers recently in his Kaduna office on how Nigeria could come out of the Boko Haram contraption wondering why President Goodluck Jonathan would insist on running for re-election when Nigerians die daily.

Said he : “Just look at the argu­ment, they say Boko Haram was a reaction against Jonathan’s govern­ment, but I don’t buy the argument. Obasanjo is a Southerner, there was no such thing when he was in charge. Gowon is a Christian, there was no such thing during his regime.

“But Maitasine started with Bu­hari and he mercilessly bombarded them, before Shagari inherited it. Buhari and Shagari are Muslims. So, that dismisses the earlier argu­ment. But assuming it is true, does the President want the killings to continue as he’s presenting himself for re-election? The wisest thing to do, for the sake of my children, his children and your children, is for him not to seek re-election and let’s bring somebody that will not trig­ger reaction from any section of Nigeria.

“You know Buhari is very popu­lar here in the north? But I said to him, please do not seek to be Nige­ria’s President. You know why? It will trigger reaction from another section that doesn’t want him. If Awolowo were to be alive today, I will tell him, Baba, please do not contest Nigeria’s presidency be­cause there is a section of the coun­try that doesn’t like you. So, let us go for people that nobody will take arms against, so he can manage the situation for us. We want to pacify the nation.

“And in doing that, we must not force people who could trigger tur­moil on the nation. It’s not defeatist, it is wise.When Nigeria becomes lawless, Boko Haram will have a field day. And that is not an op­tion. We have to talk to ourselves. Whoever helps Nigeria to achieve this is also helping it to stabilize. I just hope people will listen. Ter­rorism has no boundary. Nobody is safe anywhere. It is not going to stop in Nigeria. Nobody can stop Nigerians from going to Europe. So how do you identify terrorists among those traveling? It’s in the best interest of America that ter­rorism is crushed in Nigeria. Ter­rorism is now an opportunity for every mentally derailed person to kill himself or herself in the name of going to paradise. Somebody is just suffering from depression, but rather than committing suicide and die, he joins an organization that encourages him/her to ‘come and collect weapons and die with others so you can go to paradise.’ So our best option is to open a new page”.

Gumi, a retired military officer, also spoke on why he thinks the US is backing Boko Haram, the decay in the Nigerian Army, why the Ni­gerian Army cannot get weapons from the US and the need to crush Boko Haram decisively among many other issues of national inter­est. Excerpts:

US promised to assist Nigeria to fight Boko Haram. They have been around since then but there is no improve­ment. They have refused to sell arms to Nigeria, yet they are blocking Ni­geria from getting arms elsewhere. Will it there­fore be right to say the US is giving a tacit sup­port for Boko Haram?

When you see insurgency any­where in the world, like what is happening in Iraq, it is more than what the ordinary eyes can see. In this era of advancement in technol­ogy, it is very difficult for a convoy of militants to go about in Hilux ve­hicles, mounting heavy guns, to be roaming about, without the knowl­edge, approval and support of the super powers. It is unimaginable.

These guns cannot be carried by men, they have to be carried by ve­hicles. High caliber projectors and bullets are carried by these vehicles. And any vehicle that moves can easily be identified from the sky. In fact you cannot carry the guns, you have to dismantle them. So, it is global politics going around.

Why the politics? What could have been respon­sible for it?

One, if nations that have oil break up, it’s the buyers that benefit, not the seller. Iraq has a lot of oil. In the north are the Shiites and in the middle are the Sunnis. You cannot just come and divide a country like that out of the blues, except there is a serious reason to divide it.

And such serious reason could be religious divide not even ethnic­ity. So, if you want to divide Nige­ria, something like Boko Haram is good. Support them, direct them, take a big chunk of Nigeria, and let the rest say, ‘ok, let’s be on our own.’ But that will be extremely difficult for them to do because not even Muslims would like to be under Boko Haram. Not even Mus­lims, let alone non-Muslims.

So, if Boko Haram is taking over towns, Muslims will be agitated, the way we are all agitating because Boko Haram represents anything but Islam.

How did we find our­selves in this sorry state? I mean, could the military have unknow­ingly created the prob­lem?

What we noticed, before talking about the US angle, is the fact that Boko Haram is getting empowered and protected, while the Nigerian Army is decaying. The Nigerian Army cannot decay from outside, it has to decay from within. So, there is a force also sapping the energy of the Nigerian Army from within.

How do you mean?

The army is not well funded. There is a budget for it quite okay, but it does not trickle down. So, you have to look into the command structure of the armed forces itself. How, in the face of this big threat is the army immune to develop­ment? America stopped our army from getting arms, because of the atrocities committed by our army. It’s true, that there was genocide, mass incarceration of people. But the army should have long been equipped before these accusations came up. But unfortunately, no at­tempt was made towards that.

What could have been responsible for that?

Historically, the Nigerian Army has been an avenue for siphoning billions of naira by our Generals. All the money earmarked for weap­ons is stolen by our Generals. They are already intoxicated by it. It is like people dealing in cocaine, can you stop them? I could remember when the Infantry Divisions were converted to Mechanized Infantry Divisions, I was in the army my­self, then. By that, it meant soldiers would no longer go on foot for operations, but move in Amoured Personnel Carriers, APCs. But in a whole Division, you find only three APCs and these three APCs were refurbished after the Second World War. But look at the billions of naira that have been stolen in the past, in the name of equipping these divisions. The truth is that there was never a truly full Mechanized Divi­sion. I left the army in 1987. It was all lies. So, it did not start today.

When Boko Haram started ini­tially, it was wayo. It was about “let’s eat and grab what we can grab.” They never knew it would get out of hand. Once emergency was declared, the army thought they could frighten the society by kill­ing, maiming and arresting some people. They thought that would stop Boko Haram. But instead of curtailing it,they were fuelling it.

How, if I may ask?

Somebody who has lost his fa­ther, brother or uncle would just join Boko Haram to seek revenge. Also, soldiers who have seen so many die in detention will lack the courage to fight on. Yes, they are soldiers, but they are also human beings.

So, with all these, US, will not al­low weapons to be sold to an army that has been documented by their own records to have committed atrocities. The US is accountable.

But Boko Haram is also killing people. Why is the US not seeing any­thing wrong in that?

There is a difference between a constituted authority and an outlawed group. Armed robbers are different from policemen. An armed robber can come in here now and spray everybody, but a police­man cannot do that. No, because there is the issue of legality. We are not rogues, we are a government, and we must be seen to behave like one.

When there was no threat, they were embezzling the money, with­out buying any weapons. But now they truly need the weapons, but the US is saying no because it feels giving Nigerian Army weapons is like giving weapons to Boko Ha­ram, no difference. Boko Haram kills and Nigerian Army kills. They bury people, you bury people. They slaughter, you slaughter, no differ­ence.

So do you expect Boko Haram to obey the Geneva Convention? No, it has no respect for that. So, if the US wants to divide Nigeria, what the Nigerian government did, and has been doing, perfectly fits into their plan. The US did not need to do much. We just fell into the trap.

So how do we get out of the trap now?

It’s bitter, but we must make sac­rifice. In Europe, if an authority is involved in any scandal, it gives way. We all know why Nixon left office over the Watergate scandal. If Nigerians can learn from this, I believe we can move forward. Bring new set of people, who have no stains on their hands and put them forward, not recycling old politicians. These people can start afresh with the Ameririfice. In Europe, if an authority is involved in can government because they will see them as new players. But let me also warn that we must make haste to crush Boko Haram. ­

Crushing them does not entail granting them amnesty. You cannot grant amnesty to a group of people who neither respect religious laws nor constituted authority. They have no respect for any law. So they do not deserve any amnesty.

So, should we turn to Russia to purchase arms ?

We can buy weapons from anywhere. Nothing stops us from doing that. But the greatest sacrifice we must make to end these mindless killings is to stop the recycling of political leaders. We need new politicians, whether in PDP or APC, give us new set of people, so we can open a new page and begin afresh.

When Bush took Americans to war blindly in Iraq, Americans came up with an entirely new person, Obama, and washed their hands off Bush’s sins, and in no distant time, the Bush chapter was closed. Americans opened a new chapter. Let’s do the same here in Ni­geria, and see if things won’t change.Do you think that is possible in Nigeria?

Look at it now, the suicide bombings has reached Kontagora in Niger State, do you know the next target? Look, if you think you have money and mansions in Abuja, don’t think you are safe. It could be anybody. This thing has to be contained and it must be done immediately, but with a new set of people. Americans have records of all our leaders. Bring new faces to do it and see if Ameri­cans won’t cooperate. See Charles Taylor, he was in the American army, but the American government did not support him because he committed a lot of atrocities, the record of which they have. If you want Nigeria to prog­ress, bring new faces on the national political scene. And the earlier we do the needful, the better for all of us because nobody will be safe if the Nigerian Army crumbles, nobody will be safe if Nigeria crumbles. So, the earlier we accept that fact and do the right thing, the bet­ter for us and our children. We need new set of people to run Nigeria.We can’t fight the West, because no matter how bad the West is, they are still more humane.

You think so?

Yes, I know. The East supports the most brutal regimes. Look at Assad in Syria, how he is massacring and bombing civilians. Who is supporting him? The East. The West can never do that.

Talking about bringing in new players, election is next year. What do we do between now and next year? Do we just fold our arms and allow Boko Haram to continue killing us before election?

Just look at the argument. They say Boko Haram was a reaction against Jonathan’s government, but I don’t buy the argument. Obasanjo is a Southerner, there was no such thing when he was in charge. Gowon is a Christian, there was no such thing during his regime.

But Maitasine started with Buhari and he mercilessly bombarded them before Shagari inherited it. Buhari and Shagari are Mus­lims. So that dismisses the earlier argument. But assuming it is true, does the President want the killing to continue? Is that why he’s presenting himself for re-election? The wisest thing to do for the sake of my chil­dren, his children and your children, is for him to give way, and let’s bring somebody that will not trigger reaction from any sec­tion of Nigeria.

You know Buhari is very popular here in the north? But I said to him, please do not seek to be Nigeria’s President. You know why? It will trigger reaction from another section that doesn’t want him. If Awolowo were to be alive today, I will tell him, Baba, please do not contest Nigeria’s presidency because there is a section of the country that doesn’t like you. So, let us go for people that nobody will take arms against, so he can man­age the situation for us. We want to pacify the nation and in doing that, we must not force people who could trigger turmoil on the na­tion. It is not defeatist , it is wisdom. It’s de­featist when the forces fight, one capitulates and gives way. Then, everybody will lose. And when Nigeria becomes lawless, Boko Haram will have a field day. And that is not an option. We have to talk to ourselves. Whoever helps Nigeria to achieve this is also helping it to stabilize. I just hope people will listen. Terrorism has no boundary. Nobody is safe anywhere. Even the Americans, if they are doing it for oil, they are equally not safe. It’s not going to stop in Nigeria. Nobody can stop Nigerians from going to Europe. So, how do you identify terrorists among those traveling? It’s in the best interest of America that terror­ism is crushed in Nigeria. Terrorism is now an outlet for every mentally derailed person to kill himself or herself in the name of go­ing to paradise. Somebody is just suffering from depression, but rather than committing suicide and die, he joins an organization that says ‘come and collect weapons and die with others so you can go to paradise.’ So our best option is to open a new page.

But this new page you are talking about, how workable is it, considering the deep seat­ed animosity and suspicion be­tween Muslims and Christians in Nigeria?

No, it is not about Christians or Muslims. We trust Christians and they trust us. It’s the leaders. There are Christian leaders Muslims don’t trust and Muslim leaders Christians don’t trust. These leaders should just give way and allow Nigeria to move forward.

It is not every Christian that is not trusted. Let me give you an example, everybody has seen how Jonathan handled the issue. If somebody like Ameachi comes, Nigerians are likely to want to give him a benefit of the doubt because he has not been tried at that level before. Give us somebody new. Why will you insist it must be you, when people are dying?

Look at Awolowo, he was the leader of the Yoruba, but he could not win election outside the West. But when Abiola came, did he not beat Tofa in the north, including Kano? So, Nigeria’s interest should be first. Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, after the arms scandal should have replaced their presi­dent with somebody like Kukah or any other Christian that we can trust. This is the natural thing to do. We must imbibe that culture here and the media must help our leaders to imbibe the culture of quitting once there is a stain on them for the sake of our future.

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